Merry Christmas and Happy Valentines Day!

 One of the bad things of living in NYC during grad school is the grad school budget! Aaron and I both LLOOOOVEEE theater and musicals, but it's not something that can be in our normal routine in this season. Eric and Joy (Aaron's parents) got us War Horse tickets for Christmas. They timed it just right that it was our Valentines Day date. They even arranged for Debbie to babysit!

For starters the Lincoln center is spectacular! We only got a few shots, but we marveled at the venue the entire time! It was so fun to experience together!

The play itself was out of this world! When they told us about it, it was hard to picture, but just as incredible as described! They play is about war from the perspective of a horse. The horses are life size but are puppets! By the end of the show, you forget they are not real - seriously! The story was spectacular. I loved all aspects, but was especially touched by the mother-son relationship in the play. Having two boys, of course, I was envisioning my little tots as grown men! Here's a picture of the puppets - out of this world!!!

Thank you so much Eric and Joy for this incredible gift that we will treasure the memory for a long time!

My friend Katie

One of my biggest concerns in uprooting our family and moving to NYC was community. The reality is we were leaving an INCREDIBLE community in Texas and there was no way to know what we would find in NYC. Can I just say that I have been beyond blessed in this area.

Meet one of my friends Katie. I met Katie becuase my friend Chelsea knew a friend of Katie's. It was a bit of an akward first call...."um  hi....my name is Joyce. I'm new to the city. My friend knows your friend. Do you want to be my friend!" But the voice on the other end was warm and welcoming. So glad I made the call! I've been so thankful for this friendship. For starters, we have boys that are practically the same age (our youngest are within 2 weeks of each other). We live within a few minute walk to each other's house. And we are both pretty new to the city and learning to do this with two small children.

Our friendship was a quick one to develop. From the beginning we started having pretty regular playdates. It's so fun and refreshing to spend time with someone that know exactly what you are living. We discovered new parks together, we went to museums, had playdates at each other's house, and made regular trips to Costco together. Most recently, we've started meeting at the gym two days a week for an early morning work out. That has been awesome! Kid free time, a workout and a buddy to enjoy it with - what a great way to start the day!

What has moved me most about Katie is how selflessly thoughtful she is. For starters, when we'd only known each other a few months, Katie and Kyle loaned us their car to go to the Poconos for our Missional Community retreat. She has kept the kids on more than one occasion for me to go run errands. She's taken the boys and I on fun adventures to new museums and even a children's show! Our regular trips to Costco include Katie picking the boys and I up in her car, usually taking one of the boys with her while shopping (her boys usually don't come with us), and then dropping us back off and facilitating the unloading of the Costco buy. On our most recent Costco trip, I faced quite a dilemma when realizing that morning that our elevator was having work done. Upon arriving from Coscto, with two toddlers and a load of groceries, Katie parked her car, sat with the boys for a few minutes while I put the non refrigerator items in our basement. Then told me to get the boys up while she proceeded to carry up all my groceries up 6 flights of stairs. It took two trips. As I thanked her, her response was, "It's good exercise"!

Really, how in world did I get gifted with such a friend. They beauty of Katie is that I don't even thinks she realizes how much of a blessing she is in those moments. I love love love living life with her. Experiencing this kind of community always reminds me that it's by God's design that we live in deep meaningful friendships characterized by serving one another.

Sicky baby...Hard Days!

This week has been hard. Jonathan was under the weather with a fever for almost three days. Luckily, we don't have to deal with illness very regularly. Jonathan was miserable. Austin totally didn't understand why Jonathan got to be held all the time. Thus, Austin wanted to be held all the time. By the end of the second day, Austin was starting to act out.  I, following suit, woke up a total grump this morning. My patience really was being tested. I was mad that we couldn't go about our normal activities and that we would be cooped up - yet again- in our 700 square foot apartment for the day. But now as I stand at the end of the day and hopefully past the illness, the fog has kinda cleared and I need to process! I got sweet notes throughout the day of people telling me they were praying. I was encouraged and spurred on. A sweet sweet friend offered to keep my boys after nap time and I got to run to the grocery store kid free.

As I look back on the last three days, I just want to wack myself!   Really, I lost my cool a few too many times with the boys. I was annoyed that I was needed. I was bitter that I had to miss a playdate (aka - time with other moms) and bible study. I felt sorry for myself that I live in a city with no extended family. I...I...I...I - ahhhhhh! How selfish.Hind sight is 20/20 right? I wish I could go back and see it as an opportunity to serve my little guys. A good excuse to let the housework go because my arms were occupied with warm little bodies. I could have chosen the perspective of being gifted with unlimited, uninterrupted time with my little men without an agenda rushing us to and from places. Oh hindsight - why can't you come before the issue - or even during. Nope, you only reveal yourself in retrospect. This is why I am posting about this. I know I'll live some more sick days. Hopefully I'll remember enough to come back to this post and try to catch hindsight a little earlier and resent the days a little less!

Our trip to FL

Aaron has a research project he is doing through Columbia University in Fortaleza Brazil. During his winter break he traveled to Fortaleza for two weeks. The boys and I took the opportunity to go spend time with family and friends in FL. It was a great trip. We had lots of good times with family. Got to catch up with old friends. I was especially blessed by the servants hearts of my parents that granted me a little vacation from mommy duties as they so actively helped with the boys. Austin and Jonathan of course enjoyed Mema and Vovo time. The trip was very sweet.

I'm going to let the pictures tell the stories of our time there, but I must share one quick one of the boys on our final night. We were gathered at my parents with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. He went around to every single person there and asked, "Do you want to come to my apartment in NYC?" After receiving a yes, he's say, "Do you want to sleep on my momma and daddy's bed?" To which everyone would chuckle. Jonathan caught on that Austin was making his rounds. Without the vocabulary of his brother, but still the social personality, he went to everyone with high fives! As I tucked them into bed a little while later Austin said, "Momma all my friends want to come to my apartment in NYC!" Yes sweet one, they do! Somehow I have no pictures of us with my extended family. I am so sad about this!

Vovo and Mema have an electric car! So fun for the boys!

Vovo, Mema and the boys took walks around the block almost daily!

We had fresh Orange juice everyday from Vovo's orange tree in the back yard. Here are the boys helping pick the oranges. DELICIOUS!

One of our favorite things on this trip was spending time with Baby Jonah. He's my cousin's baby and is just 5 months younger than Jonathan. The boys LOVED him. My heart loves that!!!

See the sunshine??? All of us in short sleeves. The amount of time we got to spend outside was a wonderful treat!

EVERY AFTERNOON the boys would spend about two hours in the backyard. The activity of choice was making mud cakes!

This is daddy's birthday cake. We made a video for him and sent it to him on his birthday!

Jonathan made one too :)

Time with their favorite boy cousin Damian!!! The boys were like clue to him! He is so sweet and loves them well! It's so evident that even though he's several years older, he genuinely enjoys spending time with his baby cousins! Somehow I didn't get any pictures of the boys with my brother....sorry Jeferson!

Us with the Wilkins Kids! Karen and Wayne mentored me while I was in college. They now live in Orlando with five beautiful children. We got to see them a couple times and it was a delight to my soul!

Kalee Wilkins - the oldest daughter. She is such a sweet momma! She cared for my boys as I once cared for her as a baby. It literally brought me to tears!

Kalee was one of our flower girls and Hunter was our ring bearer. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them so grown up! As always, I so admire Karen and Wayne in their parenting! Hoping that these two get to come spend a week with us in NYC :)

Me and Karen - truly one of my dearest friends ever! So much life shared, so many lessons learned, so much love for this woman! 

Playdate Elizabeth and Angela (so missed you Maruxa!) I'm bummed we didn't get very good pictures. I was able to journey with these sweet women through all of our engagements, weddings, and now babies! Love that we still get to enjoy a little bit of life together!

Our day with the Overholsers! We trekked down to Lakeland for a day with my one of my college accountability partners Melody. They now have 4 children! This trip almost didn't happen due to kid's being sick in both families, but we are so so so glad it did. Matthew and Melody are dear friends and it was so sweet to be reunited and see our children together too too :)

Maybe there's something there! Ha!

More oranges!

Family fun in the yard!

They loved my brother and I well, and now our children too. Thanks mom and dad for such selfless giving to our family! We love you!

Our morning

I have not blogged in a while. Now I have 5 different posts brewing in my head. Of course I must post about FL, but that would require pictures, and I don't have time for pictures right now. So I'll just post about this morning.

It is our first morning back to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship). First I have to share that it was a complete beating to get out of the house this morning. It was the first time the boys and I have left the house for an activity since returning from FL. The coats, the hats, the socks, the shoes, the stroller, the boba carrier coupled with the free spirited children who just wanted to run naked wherever we were going had this momma just about to loose it. So I decided on instead of getting on a bus for 45 minutes, we would take the train for 10 minutes and have a 15 minute walk through Central Park where I could walk briskly (releasing pent up frustration of trying to leave the house!) . So glad I did. It reminded me of how much I love the city. The fact that Central Park is part of my commute is really stinkin cool!

I have to offer a little background of the impact of BSF on Austin. Last week while we were in FL, out of now where from the back seat I hear, "Jesus sat down at the right hand of God, the right hand of God, the right had of God, Hebrews 12 :2" in a song sung to Mary had a little lamb. I about fell out of my chair. This is one of the verses he learned at BSF. And here he was reciting it complete with the reference of where it is in the bible. WOW! We called his teacher so he could sing it to her too. We also emailed a video to her. So when we finally got to BSF, I experienced one of the most overwhelming momma moments. Upon seeing his teacher Austin left my hand and RAN across a long room to go greet his teacher (who was smiling and expectantly waiting for him at the door). 

As a momma I long most for my children to know, love, and want to live for God. The reality is I have no idea how to make that happen! BSF gives my little guys so much structure and solid foundation that I merely have to reinforce what they are already doing. It's incredible. So in that moment I felt like time almost stood still. As I watched Austin run to his teacher, I realized that the Lord has gifted me with these women who are just a few steps ahead in life to help coach me on how to raise my preschoolers who will one day be men to stand firm on the Word of God. My little Austin is showing fruits of their ministry in his life. I am being supported, encouraged, and spurred on. What a sweet time to celebrate with these amazing leaders at Bible Study Fellowship as we watch Austin grow, even at just 2 1/2, in the ways of the Lord!

So glad we battled getting out the door!

Nana's visit

It was so sweet to have Nana with us for Christmas and New Years. The boys loved having her in our home and not on a skype screen. She was touchable! Nana is an incredible playmate and there was not a dull moment. We had tons of sweet moments as well as some pretty neat adventures.

A couple of our favorite outings was to see the statue of liberty and taking Nana to the Children's Museum of Manahattan. What neat memories we formed!

View of Manhattan from the fairy.

This is Austin's new trick with his tongue! Nana thought it was hilarious. I had to include it here!

Jonathan and Nana very frequently had jam sessions! Nana would sing, and Jonathan would play the guitar! He's got great form!

College Walk - Columbia lined the walk way in the center of campus with Christmas lights. It's just beautiful :)

 I loved watching Nana love on her grandchildren. I can always see in her eyes a sense of understanding as my life is very similar to hers when she raised Aaron and his brother. Her support of us is incredible. Even sometimes without words she is an incredible cheerleader. She left us feeling affirmed, and spurred on to this crazy adventure God has lead us into :) Thank you for your visit Nana!

Christmas in NYC

I must admit that Aaron's idea to stay in NYC for Christmas didn't thrill me. It took me a long time to be OK with it, and even still, I prepped him that I would likely be sad. This was not the case at all. In the end, I loved the simplicity of our Christmas. Being in NYC just us (and Nana - will write more on that in a bit) really slowed Christmas down. It was a very simple celebration and really allowed us to focus on Jesus. It was a sweet time. Christmas Eve we sang Christmas carols outside one of our Church's locations. Then Christmas morning we had breakfast and took our time opening presents. The boys wanted to play with every toy they opened. We let them. We had nowhere to be, and why not! So many friends and family sent gifts to them, so it was super special to share who sent it to them and watch them enjoy!

 We then ate a simple lunch and put the very tired boys down for a nap! Upon awaking, we headed over to the Biddy's house and had Christmas dinner - Tex Mex style! At Aaron's request, I made enchiladas and Jessica made a taco bar. Very nontraditional, very yummy! We also continued the tradition Aaron and I started after getting married in making a birthday cake for Jesus. This year was so much more fun to do that with the boys. Austin totally understood it and was very excited. I have to admit that I know his excitement was to eat the cake, but it was still excitement. We all spent the night at the Biddy's then headed out in the morning for some football in the park. It was a sweet time. The dads loved throwing the ball around. As did the kids.
Simple, yes it was, but oh so special!